After minor skirmishes, the First Battle of Champagne begins in earnest, marking the first major Allied attack against the Germans since the initiation of trench warfare on the Western Front.

Still determined to win a quick victory, and despite early defeats in the trenches against German positions, French commander Joseph Joffre planned a major offensive stretching throughout the Artois and Champagne regions of France from Nieuport in the north to Verdun in the south. After minor attacks on December 10 near Perthes in eastern Champagne, heavy fighting occurred simultaneously at Givenchy, Perthes, and Noyon, where the numerical advantage enjoyed by the French resulted in few gains in territory. The Germans were well-entrenched and their defense proved superior. From the outset of the war, machine gun battalions were used along with the regular infantry, which proved lethally effective in Champagne.

Winter weather made for dismal conditions on the battlefield: guns became clogged with mud and refused to fire, and heavy rainfall often made the trenches practically unusable. Fighting continued in the region from mid-December until mid-February, when the French paused briefly to reorganize, and then again until March 17, 1915. On that day, due to their continuing lack of gains and the strength of German counter-attacks since the beginning of the year, the French called off the attack. Joffre did not give up hope of eventual success in Champagne, however, and would begin another offensive there in the fall of 1915._________________Met hart en ziel
De enige echte

Order of battle: Indian Corps (Willcocks): Lahore and Meerut Divisions

Orders are received to attack at Givenchy...

Late on the night of 17 December 1914, Sir John French responded to pressure from his French allies to continue to harass the enemy and issued orders for II, III, IV and Indian Corps to attack vigorously all along their fronts the next day. This was despite the certain knowledge that similar attacks that had taken place a few days earlier had been repulsed with severe casualties. There was to be no change in approach. Frontal assaults by infantry would take place after a short bombardment - which the infantry already knew did insufficient damage to the enemy wire, trenches and machine gun posts. GHQ orders were imprecise in terms of stating the objective of theses attacks: they would only "demonstrate and seize any favourable opportunity which may offer to capture any enemy's trenches on their front". Artillery ammunition supplies were short, and no more than 40 rounds per gun would be fired; less for the heavier calibres - and most of that would be shrapnel, which was of little value for destroying wire or smashing strong points.

...and the Indian Corps makes an attack

In the event II Corps did not attack, as the enemy actually attacked their French neighbours, disrupting plans. Elsewhere, a series of six disconnected and small-scale assaults took place. Where men entered the enemy lines - and they were few as the rest were held on the thick enemy wire - they were out-ranged by German hand grenades (the British had few, home made and quite useless grenades). The 7th and 8th Divisions quickly lost another 51 officers and 1024 men, having achieved next to nothing.

The Meerut and Lahore Divisions of the Indian Corps had already suffered some 6,000 casualties since arriving in Flanders a few weeks previously. Most of these had been lost in the defence south of Ypres, but more recently they had suffered in fruitless attacks in November and as recently as 16 December. They were exhausted, reeling from the debilitating effects of trench warfare in the flooded ditches of Flanders. The men lacked suitable winter clothing, and missed their accustomed special rations. On 18 December, the Meerut held the left sector of the Corps line, from La Bombe crossroads near Neuve Chapelle, to Picquet House near La Quinque Rue at Festubert. Extending to the right, the Lahore held the line to Givenchy, with one battalion, the 1st Connaught Rangers, on the opposite bank of the La Bassée Canal. The Corps attacked at 3.10am on the cold, windy, rainy early morning of 19 December 1914.

The attack gains a toehold in the enemy front line

The 2nd Leicesters of Gharwal Brigade, supported by the 2/3rd Gurkhas, attacked at 3.15am, and despite having to cross a field of machine gun fire managed to capture a length of 300 yards of the enemy front line near Festubert. They held on through the dawn against numerous bombing attacks delivered along the network of communication trenches. By 10.00am, the enemy was seen massing for a counter-attack near the Orchard, which was being mortared. The most advanced men were withdrawn to a line to the rear of the Orchard. A little way south, the 1st Highland Light Infantry and 1/4th Gurkha Rifles of the newly-arrived Sirhind Brigade and 59th Scinde Rifles of Jullundur Brigade attacked in front of Givenchy. They also got into 200 yards of the lightly-held enemy front line, but casualties were heavy as the enemy counter-attacked again and again, and men crossing no man's land in support were scythed down by machine gun fire.

The enemy counter-attacks in force

German retaliation to this attack and those of previous days was swift and heavy. From dawn on 20 December, in torrential rain and cold, the enemy artillery subjected the front trenches of Indian Corps to a deluge of high explosive shells, which was also supplemented by trench mortars firing from the German lines. They blew 10 small mines under the British lines at Givenchy about 9.00am, and followed this by a strong infantry attack. The mines killed or buried many men. The enemy infantry penetrated 300 yards into the Sirhind Brigade lines near Festubert, where hand to hand fighting took place. It appeared as though Givenchy, would have to be evacuated if the garrison (the 1st Manchesters) was not to be surrounded. A German report later showed that 19 British officers and 815 other ranks were taken prisoner.

Fresh troops stabilise the situation

During the afternoon of the 20 December, I Corps sent 1st (Guards) and 3rd Brigades to the assistance of the hard-pressed Indian Corps. 2nd Brigade arrived by bus later in the day. Delayed by dark, water-logged ground and machine-gun fire, they eventually relieved the Manchesters in Givenchy and the remnants of Sirhind Brigade at Festubert. GHQ ordered Haig's I Corps to relieve the shattered Indian Corps, which took place by 22 December. The 1st Division suffered 1,682 casualties in the operations to relieve the Indian Corps. Many of these, and many of the Indian Corps, were victims of exposure and frostbite as they held on without cover in freezing rain and flooded trenches for two or three days.

Joffre closes down the offensive for the winter

Following the failure at Wytschaete and the fighting at Givenchy, none of the other planned attacks followed. Shelling of the German lines merely brought down a much heavier retaliation. Joffre closed down the offensive. The sacrifice of the Scots battalions proved again the difficulty of an infantry attack upon entrenched positions that had not been suppressed, through barbed wire that was still intact. Next time, more artillery firing more HE, more thorough reconnaissance, wire cutting in advance, better ways to feed messages back - and a wider attack - would be necessary. These lessons were applied at the next serious British attack, at Neuve Chapelle on 10 March 1915.

The losses of December 1914 were bitter; they had been incurred for no tactical gain and for command objectives that were known to be uncertain and questionable. Many potential leaders and seasoned regular troops were lost - men who would have been a vital backbone for the New Armies that would come in 1915. The burial of many bodies of comrades lying in the frost and bloody pools of no man's land was one of the motivations for the Christmas fraternisation that soon occurred in this area.

British senior officer casualties

Lt-Col Robert Brewis, OC 2nd Royal Warwicks, died of wounds on 18 December 1914. He is buried at Sailly sur la Lys Churchyard cemetery.
Lt-Col Henry Lempriere, OC 7th Dragoon Guards, died on 23 December 1914. He is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial to the Missing.
Lt-Col Reginald Alexander, OC 3rd Rifle Brigade, died of his wounds on 29 December 1914. He is buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery.

William Howard Taft (15 September 1857 – 8 March 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He also served as an associate judge on the Sixth Circuit, Governor-General of the Philippines, Secretary of War to Theodore Roosevelt and Solicitor General. Between 1914 and 1920 he was the Kent Professor of Law at Yale University.

"There is nothing so despicable as a secret society that is based upon religious prejudice and that will attempt to defeat a man because of his religious beliefs. Such a society is like a cockroach — it thrives in the dark. So do those who combine for such an end."

- Speech to the Young Men's Hebrew Association in New York (20 December 1914)

SS Montrose was a transatlantic ocean liner for Elder, Dempster & Company and the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. She is most notable as the vessel on which Hawley Crippen and his lover, Ethel La Neve, fled England after Crippen's wife was murdered.

Montrose, a 444.3-foot (135.4 m) ocean liner with a gross tonnage (GT) of 5,440 tons, was built by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. of Middlesbrough and was launched on 17 June 1897 for Elder, Dempster & Company. Making her maiden voyage from Middlesbrough to Quebec and Montreal in September 1897, she began regular service from Avonmouth to Montreal the following month. On 14 March 1900, she began the first of eight voyages from Liverpool to Cape Town as a Boer War troopship.

Rebuilt in 1901 to 7,094 GT in 1901, she was sold to the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company in 1903, and outfitted for 70 second-class and 1,800 third-class passengers. She began her service between Liverpool, Quebec, and Montreal on 20 April 1903. She moved to service from London to Antwerp and Saint John, New Brunswick, in April 1904, and from London to Antwerp, Quebec, and Montreal the following month. Rebuilt again in 1905, the liner was increased to 6,278 GT.

Montrose was involved in a sinister affair in 1910. American physician Hawley Crippen and his lover, Ethel La Neve had fled England after the circumstances around his wife's death were questioned. After a body was found in the basement of Crippen's North London residence, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Walter Dew sought the couple for murder charges. One theory had the couple sailing from Dover on SS Kroonland, but when inspected in New York on arrival, Crippen and Le Neve were not to be found. The fleeing couple had instead sailed on the Montrose from Antwerp on 20 July. Crippen, identified on Montrose after the vessel received a description of the pair via a wireless dispatch, was arrested, convicted of his wife's murder, and hanged. La Neve was acquitted.

The following year, Montrose was rebuilt a final time, this time to 7,207 GT. On 28 October 1914, Montrose was sold to the Admiralty for use as a blockship at Dover. Breaking loose from her moorings during a gale, the liner drifted out and was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands on 20 December 1914.

Delay in movements and rumours of Russian losses being very heavy made me feel anxious as to the situation here. My anxieties were confirmed by a talk with General Marquis de La Guiche, French Military Attache', who told me he had heard that there was a great shortness in guns, munitions and rifles, especially guns and munitions. Having no decent cipher, I made up my mind to go to Petrograd, see what I could do and have a talk with the Ambassador. Accordingly I asked for an interview with the C.G.S., General Yanushkevich, told him of my proposed visit, and said I should be glad of any information in regard to the position, as if I could be of any help in cabling to England an opportunity would occur during my visit to the Embassy, where they had good ciphers and I, as explained before, had none.

Yanushkevich then spoke out quite freely and frankly, telling me of the shortness of guns and munitions which delayed the Russian advance - that the G.O.C.'s of armies were bitterly disappointed at not being allowed to advance, but that it was obviously hopeless to do so under the circumstances.

It is a great pity that he never spoke out so freely before. However, it is no use crying over spilt milk, and all one can do now is to hope that they will keep us more in their confidence, instead of suddenly telling one of trouble after one had believed all was going well.

I left for Petrograd that afternoon (last Sunday), arriving on Monday, when I told the Ambassador what had passed, and he sent a message to the Foreign Office, which I drafted, and which you doubtless saw.

Sir George Buchanan was in touch with the Japanese Ambassador when I left, and I hope something may be done by them to assist, though delay must of course ensue. None of us Allies know exactly what they have lost here actually in personnel or material, but the fighting has eaten up guns, rifles and munitions, and the Russians will have to remain more or less on the defensive till their wants are supplied.

I returned here on Thursday and at once called on the C.G.S., to whom I told what had passed, and suggested that he should cable to the Russian Military Attache' in London, setting forth quite clearly what the actual and pressing requirements were. I am afraid that even if you could help us it would mean some long delay, and there are, of course, the difficulties of communication with this country now the winter has set in. Japan and Canada might help via Vladivostock. Anyhow it looks like a somewhat long delay and a very irritating one.

The Q.M.G. here this morning said they had 800,000 men quite ready to go into the ranks, but all hung up through lack of munitions.

We have been sitting here, my colleagues and I, since our last "trek" in the beginning of November, and not given any further trips, so I cannot say how things are going with the armies personally, but I know that the feeling of officers is one of great disappointment at the idea of a retrograde movement. The annoying part is that I cannot help feeling that someone must have foreseen this difficulty and did not act quickly enough.

All the fresh troops I have seen coming along this line are of good physique and well fitted out. I cannot say what the officers are like. Yours, etc.,

“1914 — The so-called Rebellion which I call the armed protest against the SAP Government.”

(...) Eventually the rebellion came into the open when the government troops started to shoot. Small commandos formed spontaneously and mostly independent of each other. Close to Pretoria Gen. J.J. Pienaar and Comdt. Josef (Jopie) Fourie defeated the government troops a number of times. In time Gen. Pienaar was captured. Eventually Jopie Fourie and his men were also captured on 16th Dec. 1914. He was brought to Pretoria where he was sentenced to death by a court martial. After Dr. D.F. Malan, Rev. C.A. Neethling and other Afrikaners had tried in vain to have Gen. Smuts change the sentence, Jopie Fourie was executed by firing-squad on Sunday morning 20 December 1914 in the Pretoria jail. (...)

20th December 1914 - Until 20th December the 1st Middlesex held the Houplines trenches, during which period there were constant casualties, and the conditions in the line became more and more terrible. On 17th, 2nd Lieut. S.C. Opaque was shot by a sniper and died shortly afterwards. Three days later the Battalion was relieved and marched off to billets in Armentières, where the close of the year still found the men quartered.

So far as casualties were concerned, the 4th Battalion seems to have been more fortunate than the 1st, though it is obvious that the conditions under which the former lived in the trenches were not less uncomfortable. Mud was everywhere, and a footnote to the 1st Battalion Diary records:- "Great difficulty was experienced with the rifles in the trenches. They got grit into the leads and the cases stuck in the breeches, with the result that the bolts would not open. This was overcome with careful cleaning and oiling of the bolt actions and leads."

Thanks for news. In the morning I held a grand inspection. I was very pleased with the brave and healthy appearance of the troops. The weather is not cold. The roads are good. I embrace yoii all closely.

The 20th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Raised in 1915 as part of the 1st Australian Imperial Force, it was attached to the 5th Brigade, 2nd Division that served during World War I. The battalion first saw action during the Gallipoli campaign, before being evacuated in December 1915. After that the 20th Battalion was sent to France where they served in the trenches along the Western Front as part of the Australian Corps. Over the course of the next two years, they fought in many major battles, including the battles of the Hundred Days Offensive at the end of the war. The 20th Battalion's last engagement was at Montbrehain in October 1918. Following the end of the war, it was disbanded in April 1919. (...)

The 20th Battalion was raised in March 1915 in Liverpool, New South Wales as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). A small number of its original recruits had already served with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in New Guinea in 1914.[2] After undertaking initial training, the battalion left Australia in June and after a further period of training in Egypt they landed at Anzac Cove on 22 August 1915 as part of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Division. They played only a minor part in the during the August Offensive which was coming to a close by the time they arrived and so for the majority of time that they were at Gallipoli, the battalion was deployed in the defence of Russell's Top. They remained on the peninsula until the evacuation on 20 December 1915.

Led by Felix Dzerzhinsky, the organisation’s name was derived from the Russian initials for its original full name – The All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage. Hundreds of Cheka committees were formed across Russia, who went on to arrest, torture or execute many thousands of dissidents, deserters and other enemies of the state before it was dissolved on February 6, 1922.

Established following a decree by Lenin on the 19th December, the Cheka’s focus was on defending the revolution by removing internal threats to the Soviet regime. Lenin’s decree was purposefully vague, and this enabled Dzerzhinsky to recruit and direct his Chekists – the Cheka agents – in whatever way he saw best. With virtually unlimited powers, the growing number of agents soon began rounding up anyone identified as an “enemy of the people”. Although often referred to as the Bolshevik ‘secret police’, in reality the Chekists were easily identifiable from their long leather coats and a number of their activities were reported in official Soviet newspaper Pravda and Izvestia.

Known as the Red Terror, Cheka’s campaign of mass killings, torture, and systematic oppression grew more fierce as the Russian Civil War progressed. Their activities included a number of atrocities using torture methods that respected historian Orlando Figes says were “matched only by the Spanish Inquisition.”

Official Soviet figures placed the number of Cheka victims at 12,733. However, in reality the figure is probably significantly higher. Some historians place the actual figure at 200,000 or more.

In a laconic, single-sentence communique, the War Office in London this afternoon revealed that the ill-fated Gallipoli expedition had been abandoned after 10 months of bad luck, muddle, indecisiveness - and outstanding heroism by British, Australian and New Zealand troops.
The final act of evacuating some 90,000 men, with 4,500 animals, 1,700 vehicles and 200 guns was carried out with great skill and ingenuity, under the very noses of powerful Turkish forces. Not a single life was lost. Some 30,000 beds had been prepared for the wounded in Mediterranean hospitals, but these were not needed.

The evacuation was carried out at night-time. During the day, however, ships riding at anchor under Turkish observation could be seen disembarking troops and unloading guns and stores. The trick was that more men and materials were evacuated during the night than had been ostentatiously brought ashore during the day.

In the last stages, at Anzac Bay, when it seemed the Turks could not fail to hear what was going on, a destroyer trained its searchlight on the enemy's trenches. While the Turks concentrated their fire on the destroyer, the troops were lifted off the beaches.

As the last men were leaving, having set thousands of booby traps, a huge landmine in no-man's-land was exploded. The Turks, thinking the Australians were attacking, began a furious barrage of fire that lasted 40 minutes.

It was a better end than might have been expected to a sorry story that began when the Russians appealed to Britain and France for munitions. Ministers and military men in London agreed to let the Royal Navy try to get to Russia's Black Sea ports by forcing the passage of the Dardanelles; they also decided a back-up force of land troops would be needed.

Kitchener said he could not spare the men from the Western Front. Three weeks later he changed his mind and said he could send a division to join Royal Marines and troops from Egypt.

But by the time the combined land and sea operation was mounted at the end of April, a full two months after the navy had first bombarded the Dardanelles forts, all advantages of surprise had been lost and the Turks had heavily reinforced their positions.

When Bulgaria came into the war a clear route was opened for Germany to keep Turkey supplied. Britain decided to pull out and use the men, as today's announcement says, in "another sphere of operations".

The Commons has been told the casualties were 25,000 dead, 76,000 wounded, 13,000 missing and 96,000 sick admitted to hospital.

Up to the very last the men were visiting the cemeteries, erecting new crosses, or tidying up the grave of a dead friend. 'I hope', said one of [the ANZACs] to General Birdwood on the last morning, as he pointed to a cemetery, 'I hope they won't hear us marching back to the beach'.

In what became one of the classic withdrawals in military history, the ANZACs (and other allied forces elsewhere) were taken off Gallipoli. The ANZACs left over three nights (18-20 December 1915) without a single loss. A Victorian VC winner from the Boer War, Leslie Maygar, was in charge of the last 40 men left in the trenches until they too withdrew. The ANZAC trenches were empty when curious Turkish forces investigated. Because the battlefield by then had become static, with none of the tragic charges and counter-attacks taking place any longer, Colonel Kemal had already left for Constantinople (Istanbul) ten days earlier, and did not experience the final elation of the Turkish victory.

HOW THE WITHDRAWAL WAS ACCOMPLISHED - In addition to meticulous planning among allied commanders, ordinary soldiers contributed ingenuity to the various ruses that would cover the withdrawal. Among these were two versions of a self-firing rifle. These were devised by Australians to give the impression that the ANZAC trenches were still occupied even after the troops had departed. One version used two tins. One with a small hole was filled with water which dripped into the other tin. When full, the second tin fell over and fired the rifle by tugging on a string attached to the trigger. The second version involved a candle burning through rope, which then dropped a weight and fired the rifle.

Drip (or "pop off") rifles were self-firing rifles used at Gallipoli to deceive the Turks during the evacuation of December 1915.

Fire was maintained from the trenches after the withdrawal of the last men, by rifles arranged to fire automatically. This was done by a weight being released which pulled the trigger. Two kerosene tins were placed one above the other, the top one full of water and the bottom one with the trigger string attached to it, empty. At the last minute, small holes would be punched in the upper tin; water would trickle into the lower one, and the rifle would fire as soon as the lower tin had become sufficiently heavy.

Another device ran a string, holding back the trigger, through a candle, which slowly burnt down, severed the string, and released the trigger.

Such devices provided sporadic firing which helped convince the Turks that the ANZAC front line was occupied long after thousands of men had crept down to the beaches and escaped. British generals estimated that half the force would be lost in any attempt to withdraw because the Turks could not fail to notice as the trenches were so close. In the event, the Turks were so deceived that 80,000 men were evacuated with only about half a dozen casualties.

The drip rifle was invented by Lance Corporal W. C. Scurry of the 7th Battalion, AIF, with assistance from Private A. H. Lawrence. For the part he played in making the evacuation a success, Scurry was mentioned in dispatches, awarded the Distinguished Cconduct Medal, and promoted to sergeant.

William Charles Scurry MC, DCM (30 October 1895 – 28 December 1963) was an Australian soldier who invented the self-firing rifle while serving as a private in the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War.[1][2] He was decorated for his invention and was later commissioned and served as an officer during the fighting on the Western Front, where he commanded a mortar battery before being wounded in action. In later life he worked as an architectural modeller and orchardist before his war injuries forced him to retire. During the Second World War, he served on home service, as commandant of an internment camp before retiring to civilian life following the end of the war. He died in 1963.

Introduction: The question of how a future socialist society may look is scarcely found in the Marxist literature. Rosa Luxemburg took up this question in an article written in the heat of the revolution, in December 1918. It was reproduced in various newspapers and journals: in the Hamburger Volkszeitung on 20th December 1918, in the Jugend-Internationale (Stuttgart) on 28th December under the title German Bolshevism and in the Volksblatt (Halle/Saale) on 6th Janurary 1919 under the title Nationalisation [Vergesellschaftung].

The proletarian revolution that has now begun can have no other goal and no other result than the realisation of socialism. The working class must above all else strive to get the entire political power of the state into its own hands. Political power, however, is for us socialists only a means. The end for which we must use this power is the fundamental transformation of the entire economic relations.

Currently all wealth – the largest and best estates as well as the mines, works and the factories – belongs to a few Junkers and private capitalists. The great mass of the workers only get from these Junkers and capitalists a meagre wage to live on for hard work. The enrichment of a small number of idlers is the aim of today’s economy.

This state of affairs should be remedied. All social wealth, the land with all its natural resources hidden in its bowels and on the surface, and all factories and works must be taken out of the hands of the exploiters and taken into common property of the people. The first duty of a real workers’ government is to declare by means of a series of decrees the most important means of production to be national property and place them under the control of society.

Only then, however, does the real and most difficult task begin: the reconstruction of the economy on a completely new basis.

At the moment production in every enterprise is conducted by individual capitalists on their own initiative. What – and in which way – is to be produced, where, when and how the produced goods are to be sold is determined by the industrialist. The workers do not see to all this, they are just living machines who have to carry out their work.

In a socialist economy this must be completely different! The private employer will disappear. Then no longer production aims towards the enrichment of one individual, but of delivering to the public at large the means of satisfying all its needs. Accordingly the factories, works and the agricultural enterprises must be reorganised according to a new way of looking at things:

Firstly: if production is to have the aim of securing for everyone a dignified life, plentiful food and providing other cultural means of existence, then the productivity of labour must be a great deal higher than it is now. The land must yield a far greater crop, the most advanced technology must be used in the factories, only the most productive coal and ore mines must be exploited, etc. It follows from this that socialisation will above all extend to the large enterprises in industry and agriculture. We do not need and do not want to dispossess the small farmer and craftsman eking out a living with a small plot of land or workshop. In time they will all come to us voluntarily and will recognise the merits of socialism as against private property.

Secondly: in order that everyone in society can enjoy prosperity, everybody must work. Only somebody who performs some useful work for the public at large, whether by hand or brain, can be entitled to receive from society the means for satisfying his needs. A life of leisure like most of the rich exploiters currently lead will come to an end. A general requirement to work for all who are able to do so, from which small children, the aged and sick are exempted, is a matter of course in a socialist economy. The public at large must provide forthwith for those unable to work – not like now with paltry alms but with generous provision, socialised child-raising, enjoyable care for the elderly, public health care for the sick, etc.

Thirdly, in accordance with same outlook, i.e. for the general well-being, one must sensibly manage and be economic with both the means of production and labour. The squandering that currently takes place wherever one goes must stop. Naturally, the entire war and munitions industries must be abolished since a socialist society does not need murder weapons and, instead, the valuable materials and human labour used in them must be employed for useful products. Luxury industries which make all kinds of frippery for the idle rich must also be abolished , along with personal servants. All the human labour tied up here will be found a more worthy and useful occupation.

If we establish in this way a nation of workers, where everybody works for everyone, for the public good and benefit, then work itself must be organised quite differently. Nowadays work in industry, in agriculture and in the office is mostly a torment and a burden for the proletarians. One only goes to work because one has to, because one would not otherwise get the means to live. In a socialist society, where everyone works together for their own well being, the health of the workforce and its enthusiasm for work must be given the greatest consideration at work. Short working hours that do not exceed the normal capability, healthy workrooms, all methods of recuperation and a variety of work must be introduced in order that everyone enjoys doing their part.

All these great reforms, however, call for a corresponding human material. Currently the capitalist, his works foreman or supervisor stands behind the worker with his whip. Hunger drives the proletarian to work in the factory or in the office, for the Junker or the big farmer. The employers take care that time is not frittered away nor material wasted, and that both good and efficient work is delivered.

In a socialist society the industrialist with his whip ceases to exist. The workers are free and equal human beings who work for their own well-being and benefit. That means by themselves, working on their own initiative, not wasting public wealth, and delivering the most reliable and meticulous work. Every socialist concern needs of course its technical managers who know exactly what they are doing and give the directives so that everything runs smoothly and the best division of labour and the highest efficiency is achieved. Now it is a matter of willingly following these orders in full, of maintaining discipline and order, of not causing difficulties or confusion.

In a word: the worker in a socialist economy must show that he can work hard and properly, keep discipline and give his best without the whip of hunger and without the capitalist and his slave-driver behind him. This calls for inner self-discipline, intellectual maturity, moral ardour, a sense of dignity and responsibility, a complete inner rebirth of the proletarian.

One cannot realise socialism with lazy, frivolous, egoistic, thoughtless and indifferent human beings. A socialist society needs human beings from whom each one in his place, is full of passion and enthusiasm for the general well-being, full of self-sacrifice and sympathy for his fellow human beings, full of courage and tenacity in order to dare to attempt the most difficult.

We do not need, however, to wait perhaps a century or a decade until such a species of human beings develop. Right now, in the struggle, in the revolution, the mass of the proletarians learn the necessary idealism and soon acquire the intellectual maturity. We also need courage and endurance, inner clarity and self-sacrifice, to at all be able to lead the revolution to victory. In enlisting capable fighters for the current revolution, we are also creating the future socialist workers which a new order requires as its fundament.

The working class youth is particularly well-qualified for these great tasks. As the future generation they will indeed, quite certainly, already constitute the real foundation of the socialist economy. It is already now its job to demonstrate that it is equal to the great task of being the bearer of the humanity’s future. An entire old world still needs overthrowing and an entirely new one needs constructing. But we will do it young friends, won’t we? We will do it! Just as it says in the song:

We surely lack nothing, my wife, my child,
except all that which through us prospers,
to be as free as the birds: only the time!

Mr. T. WILSON asked the Minister of Munitions whether he is making arrangements whereby workers in and on munition factories that are considerable distances from their homes can travel on the railways at cheap rates and so enable them to spend their Christmas and New Year's holiday with their families?

Sir W. EVANS Arrangements have been made whereby cheap week-end tickets will be available for munitions workers covering the periods from Saturday, 23rd December, to Wednesday, 27th December, and from Saturday, 30th December, to Tuesday, 2nd January. Arrangements will also be made whereby these tickets will be available in the case of firms whose holidays do not exactly coincide with the dates already mentioned, subject to the proviso that no cheap weekend tickets will be issued after 31st December.

Mr. BYRNE asked whether any arrangements have been made for Christmas holidays for munition workers; if any travelling arrangements for those desiring to go to their homes in Ireland have been made; and, if not, will special cheap excursion tickets be issued to men engaged on work of national importance?

Sir W. EVANS Arrangements have been made whereby two additional days' holiday will be granted at 1465 Christmas to establishments engaged on munitions work, with some necessary exceptions due to military exigencies. These arrangements will also apply to New Year holidays in cases where New Year's Day is the recognised holiday. Railway tickets at reduced fares will be made available accordingly and these will be issued up to 31st December for munitions workers travelling from England and Scotland to ports in Ireland. Owing to the fact that the Irish railways have only been taken over by the Government in the last few days, it has not been found possible to make arrangements for special facilities on these railways.

A row between the hangman and the Australian law administration authorities broke out when two men involved in the murder of a cop were sentenced to death. It was customary to pay the hangman £5 5s. for a hanging “in view of the very disagreeable nature of the duty involved,” but in the case of Roland Kennedy and Frank Franz the hangman wanted £5. 5s. per noose.

The attorney-general’s department refused the request, arguing, “When two or more criminals are hanged on the same day they stand on the platform together and fall at the same time.”

The hangman appealed to the public service board, who upheld his view. They countered on his behalf that if one corpse was worth five guineas, two should be worth ten. The attorney-general’s under-secretary riposted that it was “an extravagant waste of money” to pay double for a double execution. The minister of justice agreed, and the hangman had to be content with two for the price of one.

Franz and Kennedy were labourers and members of the Tottenham, NSW, branch of a society known as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). On October 4th, 1916, they, together with Kennedy’s brother Michael, were jointly charged with the murder of Constable George Duncan, who was shot dead in September that year after the arrest of IWW members.
Franz turned king’s evidence and claimed that Roland Kennedy and his brother Michael Kennedy forced him to become involved. Although he was present when the constable was shot through the window of Tottenham police station, he shot his gun at the window sash and not at the officer. The trial court was told that Franz’s gun could not have fired the fatal bullet.

Franz must have considered himself very unfortunate. He had turned king’s evidence to help the prosecution, there was no scientific link between him and the killing, and normally criminals who elect to be prosecution witnesses are not executed. But for all that he was sentenced to death, along with Roland Kennedy. They were hanged on Wednesday, December 20th, 1916, at Bathurst Prison, Sydney. Michael Kennedy was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Private William Dalton Lycett, 2063, of the 4th Field Ambulance A.I.F. enlisted on 12th September 1914, he embarked on the 22nd December 1914 at Melbourne on the H.M.A.T. “Berrima”.

Wednesday 20th December, 1916 - Got up this morning about 8 a.m. and had breakfast. Are running a small hospital for chaps with colds and influenza in barn beneath our loft. Had shave and good clean up then re-arranged my kit before dinner. On duty at 2 p.m., had ten patients in with very bad colds, fairly busy all afternoon, very cold and place awfully draughty. Some of our chaps got Xmas parcels from home today and we have been eating nearly all day. After tea did little writing and turned in about 9 p.m. Off duty 8 p.m.

Australian voters were asked in October 1916, and then again in December 1917, to vote on the issue of conscription. Universal military training for Australian men aged 18 to 60 had been compulsory since 1911. The referendums, if carried, would have extended this requirement to service overseas.

The 1916 Referendum

Australian troops fighting overseas in World War I enlisted voluntarily. As the enormity of Australian casualties on the Western Front became known in Australia and no quick end to the war seemed likely the number of men volunteering fell steadily. There was sustained British pressure on the Australian Government to ensure that its divisions were not depleted: in 1916 it was argued that Australia needed to provide reinforcements of 5500 men per month to maintain its forces overseas at operational level. With advertising campaigns not achieving recruiting targets, Prime Minister Hughes decided to ask the people in a referendum if they would agree to a proposal requiring men undergoing compulsory training to serve overseas. The referendum of 28 October 1916 asked Australians:

Are you in favour of the Government having, in this grave emergency, the same compulsory powers over citizens in regard to requiring their military service, for the term of this War, outside the Commonwealth, as it now has in regard to military service within the Commonwealth?

The referendum was defeated with 1,087,557 in favour and 1,160,033 against.

The 1917 Referendum

In 1917 Britain sought a sixth Australian division for active service. Australia had to provide 7000 men per month to meet this request. Volunteer recruitment continued to lag and on 20 December 1917 Prime Minister Hughes put a second referendum to the Australian people. The referendum asked:

Are you in favour of the proposal of the Commonwealth Government for reinforcing the Commonwealth Forces overseas?'

Hughes’ proposal was that voluntary enlistment should continue, but that any shortfall would be met by compulsory reinforcements of single men, widowers, and divorcees without dependents between 20 and 44 years, who would be called up by ballot. The referendum was defeated with 1,015,159 in favour and 1,181,747 against.

The conscription referendums were divisive politically, socially and within religious circles. Newspapers and magazines of the time demonstrate the concerns, arguments, and the passion of Australians in debating this issue. The decisive defeat of the second referendum closed the issue of conscription for the remainder of the war.

The Chequers Estate Act 1917 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that designates Chequers as the official country residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was given Royal Assent on 20 December 1917.

The Act was the first piece of legislation to recognise the existence of a Prime Minister even though the head of government had been referred to unofficially as "Prime Minister" since the early 18th century.

(...) In March 1917, MacGreevy enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery of the British Army. His training lasted for nearly 10 months. In November of that year he received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the RFA and one month later, having finished home service, was posted to the Western Front, landing in Le Harve on 20 December 1917.

The All-Russia Collegium for Direction of the Air Forces of the Old Army (translation is uncertain) was formed on 20 December 1917. This was a Bolshevik aerial headquarters initially led by Konstantin Akashev. However alongside other military reorganisation the "Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet" (Glavvozduhflot) was established on 24 May 1918. It was given the status of a Main Directorate.

Description: A band of Bluejackets and Doughboys playing the "Marsellaise" on the ship's deck, as American troops, homeward bound from service in France, come aboard in the harbor of St. Nazaire, 20 December 1918. Note the capstan and bitts in the foreground. Date: 20 December 1918

Zigzag trenches in Champagne The First Battle of Champagne, which after minor skirmishes began on 20 December 1914, was effectively the first significant attack by the Allies against the Germans since the construction of trenches following the so-called 'race to the sea' during the autumn of 1914.

Joffre, the French Commander-in-Chief, was determined to win the war quickly, and despite a lack of success in more local attacks against trench lines, resolved to launch a major offensive extending along the whole line from Nieuport to Verdun, throughout the Artois and Champagne regions.

In the event the winter offensive was primarily directed against a notable salient, the Sayon Salient, which the Germans had forced into central France from Reims to Verdun; a smaller salient also existed further south at St. Mihiel.

Joffre's plan involved a numerically superior attack against the German Third Army on the Sayon salient at its most northern and southerly edges, to be followed by an advance through the Ardennes, intended to cut off a potential German retreat, the whole offensive aided by a supporting attack from the River Yser through to Verdun.

Field of French and German dead in ChampagneThe offensive was launched with minor attacks on 10 December 1914 at the southern edge of the Sayon salient, near Perthes in eastern Champagne. Despite heavy fighting - at Givenchy from 18-22 December, Perthes on 20 December, and at Noyon on 22 December - French gains were minimal. Despite being outnumbered in terms of troops, the German lines were efficiently entrenched, and successfully demonstrated the superiority of the then state of defensive warfare, especially in their use of the machine gun. The separate attack from the Yser proved a costly failure, notably at Artois and the Woevre.

Fighting continued without break until mid-February when a brief lull in the battle - to re-organise - was resumed until 17 March when the entire offensive was called off by the French owing to the strength of German counter-attacks (particularly along the La Basse Canal and near Soissons from 8 January-5 February), combined with a costly lack of success. Perthes had in particular seen much action, with an additional three battles being fought for its possession.

The French had made minor territorial gains across the line - the French Fourth Army had made progress on the hills of eastern Champagne - but at no point greater than 3 km - which, judged by Joffre's aims, was less than adequate. French casualties numbered some 90,000; the German Third Army lost an equivalent number.

Despite this setback Joffre was convinced that the German lines were vulnerable to massed infantry assault, particularly given the knowledge that German forces were being transferred to the Eastern Front to conduct the battle against Russia.

Joffre therefore determined to continue the wider offensive at the northern edge of the Sayon salient; he later resumed the Champagne offensive in the autumn of 1915.

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and Its Effects on the United States MilitaryBy Jennifer George

(...) “Rapid and Steady Decline,” was published in the Stars and Stripes on December 20, 1918. This article discussed the decline of influenza and pneumonia after October 27 1918. The article points out that of 1,000 men, 610 had contracted influenza. 100 of them had contracted pneumonia. As of December 8, 1918 of 1,000 men 124 contracted influenza and 13.4 had contracted pneumonia. It also argued that the reason that the camps in the states had a large problem with the disease was because the men were just coming from the civilian life and their body had not yet been strengthened. 64 The interesting aspect to this article is that it insinuates that the disease began in the civilian life. But as historians such as Fincher have noted the pandemic began in the military installations. The article did not want the soldiers to feel guilty for the spread of this horrible disease; it wanted the men to focus on winning the war. The article also states, “The week of October 11 brought the peak of the disease to the Camps from the States, 90,393 cases of influenza, 17, 882 of pneumonia and a death total of 6,266.”65 The article also pointed out the week of October 27, 1918. During that week 75 percent of the pneumonia cases died.66 This portion of the article demonstrated that pneumonia was extremely deadly during the influenza pandemic. This was printed several weeks after the end of the pandemic. The decision was wise because printing this information may have caused a large influx of soldiers to panic and run.

“A.E.F. Twice as Healthy,” was an article written December 20, 1918 in the Stars and Stripes. It presents statistics of how many soldiers were inflicted with influenza and pneumonia in 1917 and then compares them with 1918. This article stated that between November 1917 and December 1917 of 100,000 men, 2,230 men had influenza and that between the same months of 1918 86 men had influenza. For pneumonia, 268 had pneumonia in 1917 and in 1918, 140 had influenza per 100,000 men. Then the article discussed the deadly influenza in September and October of 1918.67 Even though the article discussed the months of September and October, it does not make the connection that the reason the influenza and pneumonia numbers were so low compared to 1917 is because the world had just gotten through the pandemic. This article also implies that the troops were healthy, as if nothing had happened. (...)

HMS Champion was a C-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy. She was part of the Calliope group of the C-class of cruisers.

She was laid down on 9 March 1914, launched 29 May 1915 and commissioned into the navy on 20 December 1915. She was assigned to the Grand Fleet upon completion, as the Leader of the 13 Destroyer Flotilla. With a number of her sisters, Champion took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May to 1 June 1916. She survived the battle and the war, but was considered obsolete before the outbreak of the Second World War. Champion was used as a test bed for the Royal Navy's first Remote Power Control (RPC) gunnery systems, in 1928.[1]. She was sold for scrap on 28 July 1934 to Metal Industries, of Rosyth.
[edit] References

1. ^ Rippon, Evolution of Engineering in the Royal Navy, p258

* Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
* Jane's Fighting Ships of World War One (1919), Jane's Publishing Company
* Ships of the Calliope class[img][/img][img][/img]

What a year this has been for wonderful events! I have often wished we might have been able to talk them over as they occurred, although for my own part I am hardly able to take them in, and all my attention seems to be absorbed by the passing moment, or the immediate future. The past will loom up, I suppose, when it begins to recede into the distance. Just now I am wondering what Mr. Wilson is up to: I rather think he is more to be trusted than the tendency of his political catchwords would suggest. He once told the Philosophical Association at Princeton (were you at that meeting too?) that in that college they had a radical purpose but not a radical manner in philosophizing: but it seems—and is to be hoped—that in politics he has not a radical purpose but only a radical manner. And I wonder what he has by way of manners! From what I hear—the papers can’t tell us what is most interesting—Mrs Wilson, not being able to make a fool of herself, because she is one already, is making a fool of her husband. My own feeling is, however, that he will yield to the experience and also to the fascinations of the European statesmen he is encountering, and that he won’t do any mischief.

Oxford seems to me more beautiful every day. I walked three times round Christ Church meadows this afternoon, under the most romantic of wintry skies and the softest of breezes, in a sort of trance; and I should certainly come to live and die in Oxford, if it weren’t for the Oxonians.

From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Two, 1910-1920. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.

Today we visit another lynching in Shubuta, Mississippi. This one occurring in 1918 and brought to us through the pages of The New York Times, New York, N. Y.) on December 21, 1918:

LYNCH FOUR NEGROES; TWO OF THEM WOMEN

Prisoners Taken From Mississippi Jail by Mob and Hanged for Murder of a Dentist.

MOBILE, Ala., Dec. 20.—Four negroes, two of them women, accused of the murder of Dr. E. L. Johnston here last week, were taken from the jail at Shubuta, Miss., tonight and lynched, according to information in Mobile.

All four were reported to have been hanged to the girders of a bridge spanning the Chickasahay River.

Information received here from Shubuta was that the jailer was called into the street by one of the members the mob and then handcuffed. He was ordered to release the prisoners and forced to accompany the mob and prisoners out of town. The jailer was released before the mob reached the bridge where the negroes were lynched.

Dr. Johnston, a dentist, was shot and killed from ambush while in his barn. Major Clarke, one of the negroes lynched, was arrested, and, according to the authorities, confessed, implicating the others and stating that he had shot Dr. Johnston at the instigation of one of the women who had had trouble with the dentist.

The negroes lynched were two brothers and two sisters, Major and Andrew Clarke, and Maggie and Alma House.

Daily Telegraph, December 20, 1916: David Lloyd George makes his first major speech to Parliament as Prime Minister

With David Lloyd George making his eagerly-awaited first major speech in Parliament as Prime Minister you might have expected this to be the main feature of today’s news, and indeed it was, but not quite in the way you might expect. The news story limited itself to the salient points of the speech, Herbert Asquith’s reply and Earl Curzon’s speech to the Lords, and played second fiddle to Hall Caine indulging in what might kindly be called flowery prose in describing the scene in such a fashion that you get very little sense of the speech itself. If you can stomach it, try to get through this lengthy discursive article on pages 9 and 10.

December 20, 1915: Of peace ships, grafters in collusion with crooks, and cudgeling and falling down stairs

Henry Ford’s Peace Ship arrives at Christiana (Oslo), in some turmoil. The hastily assembled bunch have been squabbling for most of the voyage, with bitter fights over whether to issue a statement opposing the military increases called for by Pres. Wilson in his State of the Union address and over details of how peace is going to be achieved, and some plain-old power struggles, from which Ford himself is largely absent, having retreated to his stateroom for most of the journey. They’ve also debated whether to expel several reporters.

Chicago Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson begins a campaign against corruption in the Chicago Police Department, which he says is “rotten and honeycombed with grafters in collusion with crooks.” He says some cops have been murdered by other cops. “Ish the Chicago way,” he adds, confusing onlookers with his impression of Sean Connery, who wouldn’t be born for another 15 years.

The NYT reviewer of the new film Don Quixote, played by DeWolf Hopper (husband of Hedda and father of William Hopper, who played Paul Drake in Perry Mason), finds the movie faithful to the original but a failure because “the nature of cinema precludes the transmission of anything so subtle as satire, which is the essence of the book.” Still, for better or worse, “There is much cudgeling and falling down stairs and rubbing of injured parts, after the familiar movie manner.”

A Window on the Great War - A Christmas Letter from the Trenches - December 20, 1915 - Belgium

One Hundred years ago today (Dec 20, 2015), Hugh C. Wright from Shepody, Albert County, NB was busy fighting with the 26th New Brunswick battalion in trenches of Belgium. He was only 20 years old at the time. This was one of his letters home and was written December 20, 1915.

A note on the Author - Hugh Carlisle Wright, from Hopewell,(Shepody), Albert County, NB, enlisted in the 26th Battalion on November 17, 1914. He was 19 years of age. He was in A Company, No. 1 Platoon while training in Saint John. He served in the 26th Battalion, 5th Infantry Brigade in Belgium and France and spent 17 months in the trenches. In February 1917, he transferred to the 4th Siege Battery, 2nd Brigade CGA and was a gunner for the remainder of the war. He was discharged in May 10, 1919...on his birthday!

Hugh's letters are addressed … “Dear Father” because his mother died when he was only 7 years old. Harvey and Clarke were Hugh's older brothers. His brother Clarke enlisted in October 1915, arriving in England with CEF April 1916. Harvey didn't enlist but stayed home to run the family farm in Shepody.

With many thanks to Hugh Wright's great niece, Dawne McLean who kindly submitted the letter.

Belgium
Dec 20, 1915

My Dear Father,

I received your letter of Dec. 5th to day and was glad to get it. I have got the moccasins and the stuff alright. I had the moccasins on this last time in the trenches and I didn’t have to put on a pair of hip boots all the time we were in as I never was over the tops of these. They are fine.
I shall be on the look out for the parcel from Gordon. I had a letter from Uncle Silas while we were up in the trenches and he said that Mrs. Cook and he were sending me a large parcel, so with all the others I hear that are coming I will not do too bad. I saw a list of stuff that is in the boxes for us from home and it sounds good so I am anxiously waiting for them.
I don’t need hip rubber boots as we have them when in the trenches.

Uncle Silas said in his letter that Blair had enlisted and I think it will be the best thing for him as a good rough life is just what he needs. I haven’t seen many that have failed on it in this Batt.
I hope Clarke doesn’t get away before Xmas as he will enjoy it better home.

Our Company will be in as usual just back of the front line on Xmas Day. We go in there on Xmas Eve (some different place to go on Xmas eve than I had last year), but we will make the best of it wherever we are.

I haven’t had a letter from Clarke for some time. I was expecting one from him today but none came. You ought to get my pay alright as I fixed it up with the paymaster some time ago.

It would be a nice thing if the three counties could raise a Batt. I must write to Mrs. Carnwarth just as soon as I get time. I sent her a Xmas Card some time ago. I don’t know of anything I can send here for they don’t have anything over here any good. I have some good pieces of aluminum off the nose of shells, but it is hard to send anything like that home.

There has been terrible artillery fire for these last two days and it is still at it tonight. The report is here that the Germans tried the gas but the wind changed and it went back at themselves.
I think there is something going to happen pretty soon and the sooner the better and get this thing over as soon as possible.

Well, I must close and get ready to go out on fatigue tonight.

I just got a nice big parcel from Uncle Silas tonight with some cake, cookies and chocolate. It was a dandy box. Walter Danahy and Stevens were here so I gave them some and will give Silas some in the morning.

Good night, Hugh

(letter cont’d next day)

I received a nice parcel from Aunt Berta last night so I have plenty to eat for a few days anyway.
This writing paper is a little tablet that we got in a little book with envelopes in it - a present from the women of Canada.

PAPERS RELATING TO THE FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1915, SUPPLEMENT, THE WORLD WAR: The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Germany ( Gerard )

[Telegram] Washington , December 20, 1915.

2518. Your 3238, December 18, 2 p. m. German Ambassador here has been granted the privilege of communicating with his Foreign Office through the Department in cipher concerning Lusitania. Question of further privileges will be handled with German and Austrian Embassies here.